Task/Package Server Working?

For SMP 7.1 SP2, I just set up a separate VM (Windows 2008 R2 Standard) with task and package services. The SMC shows both components installed (albeit my Package Service has a warning with 5 invalid packages). I currently don't plan on setting up separate sites in my hierarchy so haven't created any sites. Must I do anything further in order for my new task/package server to be fully operational? How can I tell whether task services have indeed been offloaded onto my new task/package server or not; or is the load still shared with the SMP server?

The 5 invalid packages are from Deployment Solution, if you configure DS correctly they should populate, if you don't need DS it doesn't matter.

There are filters (Filters > Computer Filters > Task Service Filters) in the console that tell you how many Task Agents are connected to each Task Server, you can use the <NSName> one as a target for a Task to reset task agent and run that weekly.